


A normal family

by IaMcHrIsSi



Series: Small pictures [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-01
Updated: 2015-08-01
Packaged: 2018-04-12 09:47:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4474691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IaMcHrIsSi/pseuds/IaMcHrIsSi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little scenes from the lifes of the Naberries</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Day Off

“Sola!” A shout rings through the room. Sola smiles. Her sister is the Queen of Naboo, but in this moment she looks exactly like the lively 15-year-old she is.

“Hello Padme” She says and hugs her baby sister. Padme wears a dark red gown, beautiful and expensive, but nowhere near as elaborate as anything she would wear on an official occasion.

Today is not an official occasion, thank the goddess. Sola is proud of her baby sister, prouder than she ever thought she could be, but Padme works to much. Sola knows that her sister is happy, that she wants this, but she thinks that sometimes, Padme should be allowed to live a normal life, even if it is just for a day.

It is for this reason that she is here today. “Have you got everything you need?” Sola asks the other girl while looking her over more thoroughly, noting the small backpack, the lack of make-up and the white thumbnails that match hers, small but important reminders of their heritage.

“Yes, of course I do!” Padme says, rolling her eyes. “I will have you know that I’m the elected Queen of this planet. I do not forget such things.” Padme uses her official voice. For a moment the two girls stare at one another before breaking into giggles. 

It takes them quite a while to stop laughing. Finally, Sola says breathlessly: “That was amazing. Now I know why nobody wants to oppose you.

“You don’t think it has something to do with the fact that I am Queen of Naboo, or the fact that I helped fight of an invasion?” Padme asks jokingly. Sola stiffens and her smile becomes a bit forced. Yes, of course the invasion has something to do with it. Padme had, with only a few handmaiden, a bit security personal and two Jedi as well as the help of the Gungans, taken back the palace and liberated the planet. It still sends shivers down Sola’s spine to just think about it. Padme could have easily died that day. A Jedi master, a talented and apparently well known one at that, had. But today Sola doesn’t want to think about it, doesn’t want to ponder what-ifs and it-could-have-been-Padme’s. Today they are just two sisters who want to have fun. So she smiles and nods at Padme.

They leave the palace ground with only minimal security. Two officers are trailing behind them, trying (and failing, Sola notes amused) to not stand out in the among the people here. They are in a shopping mall. Neither sister is huge on shopping, but with Sola in the university and Padme as Queen they just don’t get to do it _at all,_ which is why they decided to do it as a sister’s day out. 

It turns out to be actually a lot more fun than Sola expected. They move from boutique to boutique, from shop to shop, picking out beautiful and ridiculous dresses and just trying them on. Sola makes Padme wear a yellow-pink monstrosity. Padme takes a holo of Sola in an orange-violet… something. Sola has not laughed as much in weeks, and Padme finally looks like a child again, like the little girl Sola used to read to when they were little and still in their village in the mountains.

Later, when they sit down for ice-cream and coffee, they invite the two guards that came with Padme to sit with them. They are a bit unsure at first, both of them being rather young and inexperienced, but Padme easily convinces them. Sola watches with fascination as Padme politely invites them, reassures them and charms them into enjoying it. Yes, Sola thinks, this is Padme the politician, Padme the Queen, and this is why people follow her.

(They come back to the palace later than expected. Sola doesn’t catch the train she wanted and is late for the lecture the next morning. But she doesn’t care. Padme smiles and laughs and Sola got to spend a whole day with her, just the two of them, and it is _so_ worth it.


	2. Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sola visits her sister's grave

The flowers are blue. Padme had always liked blue, although, to be fair, Sola’s baby sister had liked almost every color if it was bright enough.

It is something Sola had always admired about Padme: Padme had shined so bright, so determinated. She had dressed in bright, cheerful colors, never afraid to be noticed, had spoken loudly and clearly, even if what she said was controversial. It had been simply impossible to ignore Padme.

And yet… Padme is dead. And while her grave is beautiful and full of flowers (just last week Queen Apailana laid down roses), Sola feels strange whenever visiting it. It’s as if… well, she doesn’t really know what’s wrong. Maybe it is because her sister was always full of life, that now her grave seems like her own anti-thesis.

Sighing, Sola lays down the flowers. It is no good thinking about it, she knows. She has tried to figure it all out ever since the message of Padme’s death first came, but even now, years later, she is no closer to a solution than before. She doubts she ever will be.

“Hello, Padme.” She says. Sola has taken to talking to her little sister. Padme can’t answer, but it makes Sola feel better, somehow. Maybe she is just trying to have all those conversations that the two of them never had when Padme was alive, as her mother suggests, but honestly, Sola doesn’t care. It feels good, so she does it.

“Ryoo has been accepted into the academy. She is so happy! I really couldn’t be more proud. And you should have seen father! A grin so wide I thought his face would split in half!” It had been a wonderful moment, all of them together. Ryoo had smiled and laughed the whole time, while Pooja had hugged her sister again and again. Mother had almost cried, and Janred and Sola herself had not been able to stop grinning.

“She will be one of the best builders Naboo has ever seen, you know. Well, of course you know! You always believed it, didn’t you?” And just like that, Sola feels sad again. It’s true. Padme had always told Ryoo that she would be a good architect. But Padme had also only seen Ryoo a few times a year, too busy in Coruscant to really be home all that often.

“Mother says that she will visit in the next week.” Sola says, trying not to let the sadness overwhelm her. It is how they say when they’re going to Padme’s grave: Visiting Padme. It feels better that way. As if they were a whole, happy family. Well, they are happy, mostly at least, but they are not whole, and have not been for quite some years.

For a moment, she stands there, looking over the masses of colorful flowers to the big, beautiful tombstone. It is at once a dead place, and a place that reminds her of her little sister. But maybe that’s the holo on the tombstone, that shows Padme in her full Queen Amidala regalia, beautiful and young and, in a way, immortal.

“I miss you, little sister.” Sola whispers, and turns to go home.


	3. Funeral

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sola's thoughts at Padme's funeral

It was a beautiful funeral. Not that that really meant anything now. Sola’s baby sister was dead, and no amount of pomp would bring her back.

Padme looked so peaceful, lying there, eyes closed as if she were sleeping, flowers woven in her hair and hands still clasped around that necklace she had loved so much. Sola had asked where the necklace had come from, more than once, but Padme had never answered, just smiled mysteriously and shook her head. At that time, Sola had been contend to let her sister keep a couple secrets, confident that she would come to her eventually, but now she wished she had pushed for those answers.

A tear slowly rolled down her cheek. Sola refused to wipe it away. It might not be proper, but her baby sister was dead. All the world should know her grief. And her guilt.

Padme had been pregnant. Her sister, her baby sister had been pregnant, and Sola had not known. How could she not have known? How could she not have realized something was wrong? She had talked to her not a week ago. Padme had seemed tired, but… Sola had believed her when she’d said she just had not slept enough. She should have pushed for answers. She didn’t even know who the father was. She had suspicions, yes, of course. Padme had always been a bit too close to Anakin Skywalker, and Sola was quite sure she wasn’t the only one who had noticed… but at the same time, Sola had not known Padme was pregnant. Her sister had managed to keep that from her completely. What were the odds that Padme had kept a lover from her? Maybe even a husband?

No, Sola decided. A lover maybe, but Padme would not have gotten married without telling her. Or would she? Sola’s thoughts were going in circles, like they had since Bail Organa had first called to tell her about Padme. There was nothing to be earned here, no insight to be gained, but Sola couldn’t help it. Her sister was dead. How could she not think about it?

She was not quite sure why it was Bail Organa who had called them. Sure, the man had been a close friend of Padme, but …. Sola wasn’t even sure where she was going with this thought. Something was strange about it, from the statement that Padme had died of a sudden heart attack to the fact that she had died the day the Republic became the Empire. Bail had suggested that Padme’s heart had broken when the Republic died, which sounded poetic, but wrong, and anyway, there had been a strange glint in the mans eyes, as if there was something he wasn’t saying. But then again, his world had broken down as well, hadn’t it? Maybe Sola was just desperate to see something that wasn’t there, to make sense of the senseless death of her sister, to shift the guilt that lay on her shoulders like bricks. Maybe her sister had truly just suffered a heart attack. Maybe.

But Sola couldn’t truly believe it, and she knew she never would. Not when her sister had been so young, so beautiful, so kind, and not when there was so much she, the older sister, the one who should have protected her, had not known.


	4. Maiden's Dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Padme is very obviously in love. Sola and her mother think it's hilarious.

“Anakin and I will be going for a walk. I want to show him the lake Nayo. You know, where we used to play when we were kids. I just know he’s going to love it.” Padme is positively glowing, with a big, happy smile. Sola has to fight to keep a straight face.

“Well, then have fun. And I like your choice of dress!” Their mother tells Padme, motioning to Padme’s clothes. The dress is indeed beautiful, and Padme looks nothing short of radiant in it, but well, it is the _Maiden’s Dress_. Which does not exactly work to prove her point about not being in love with young Anakin.

“Thank you.” Padme says airily, not commenting further. _Is she not going to say anything?_ Sola wonders. She knows that Anakin grew up on Coruscant and on Tatooine (Tattoine? Sola had never even heard about that planet before Anakin had mentioned it) so he most probably isn’t aware of the significance of the dress, but still…

[[MORE]]

Padme leaves, gliding out of the room as if walking on clouds. There are stars in her younger sisters eyes, Sola notes, and a blissful smile playing around her lips. When the door falls shut, Sola exchanges a glance with her mother and starts laughing. Hard.

“She doesn’t have any idea what she’s doing, does she?” Sola says, and starts laughing again. It’s quite ridiculous. Padme had insisted, multiple times, that she did not have any feelings beyond friendship for the Jedi apprentice, but that just now proved all those words to be lies.

“Our dear Padme is in love. And she does not know how to handle it.” Jobal says, an amused and relieved glint in her eyes. They all worry for Padme, whose life has consisted of exactly three things since she was crowned Princess of Theed: Duty, duty, and duty. To see her now, behaving like a young woman with her first serious crush, is both incredibly funny and very much a relief of the worry they’ve had for her.

“She’s so in over her head. Telling us she’s not interested in him and then this? She’s on cloud 9 constantly. And in her Maiden’s Dress!” Sola says, still trying to control her laughter.

“Well, she has been so caught up with her work that she probably is truly confused as to how to handle these feelings. She has no idea what’s happening, and therefore she probably doesn’t realize that she isn’t exactly being discreet.” Sola’s mother tells her with a smile.

“It’s kind of cute, honestly. But the Maiden’s Dress is really, really overkill. And how can she not explain it to either him or us? At all?” Sola has finally stopped laughing, but she still grins. The _Maiden’s Dress_ …. it’s a traditional Nabooian gown that is worn during a serious courtship, a signal to everyone that while the woman wearing it isn’t married yet, she is being courted and therefore not interested in any attempts at flirting. It’s not a wedding ring, but it _is_ a commitment. Sola herself had dated a couple different men before first wearing her own Maiden’s Dress on a date with Jarred (it hadn’t been the first date, of course, Sola was not going to commit on the first date). The memory of the look in Jarreds eyes when he had first seen Sola in that dress still warms her heart.

Padme wearing it now, for Anakin of all people… well, it’s funny. Very much so. And it hilariously dooms any attempt to tell them that Padme sees the young Jedi as _just a friend_.

“Well, it’s not like sweet Anakin is going to notice. He is a good looking boy, isn’t he? I never thought he might be Padme’s type, too young and hot headed, and not nearly enough interest in politics and democracy, but then again, young and eager can be a very nice combination.” Jobal comments, looking out of the window.

“Mother!” Sola is in equal parts horrified and delighted by that statement. It’s quite true, but there are just things you do _not_ want to know about your mother. Jobal grins.

“Well, don’t act so surprised, I know you thought about it, too. And it’s not like she’s going to marry him, he’s a Jedi after all. This infatuation will pass quick enough, but for now they can enjoy it. And the Maiden’s Dress is not truly something lasting, just a basic show of not being interested in anybody else.” Sola’s mother says, taking the tea of the stove. She offers Sola a cup of it, which Sola gratefully accepts.

“You know very well that most people consider the Maiden’s Dress to be something lasting. Both of us only wore it for our husbands. She is going to be so embarrassed about it when she comes out of her crush!” Sola snorts. Imagining Padme being embarrassed about this… Padme has always been the perfect girl, without any fault or flaw. This is probably going to be good for her, although Sola really hopes that Padme doesn’t end up with a broken heart. Sola’s little sister deserves all the happiness in the world.

“Well, she skipped the dangers of teenage dating, and got herself right into this instead. I foresee some helping her come into terms with it afterwards, and more com calls for girl talk. That’s good, too. She’s been way too involved in her work, we hardly see her anymore.” Jobal says, taking a sip of her tea.

In that moment, Pooja and Ryoo run in, breathless and with a very surprised expression. They had been at the lake Nayo, Sola remembers.

“Why is Auntie Padme wearing a Maiden’s Dress?” Ryoo asks. Sola and her mother burst out in laughter.


	5. News

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pooja and Ryoo hear about the death of the Emperor

The call comes on an unremarkable day in summer. Pooja is out of the city, visiting Ryoo, the two of them choosing to spend the day at the lake, like they had so often when they were children. 

It’s relaxing, to be back here, where so many happy moments of her childhood have taken place, Pooja thinks. Her and Ryoo had learned to swim before they had really learned to walk, her mother always says, and being here, the calm blue water in front of her and memories of playing and happiness and peace in her mind, she can believe it.

Suddenly, her com rings. Pooja had not wanted to bring it, had wanted to just spend the day with her sister, without work or any distractions, but Pooja is one of the closest advisors of her queen, and a servant of Naboo, so she had reluctantly taken it.

Ryoo shoots her a mocking glare, and Pooja picks up. A breathless voice Pooja identifies as belonging to Nali, one of the queens handmaidens, starts talking. “The Emperor, he’s dead, and we have to plan, and we need you here, and the Death Star and have you heared and Endor and…”

“Stop, Nali, take a deep breath.” Pooja says, her mind racing. Has she understood correctly? The Emperor… sure it can’t be. “Now tell me, slowly, okay?” She instructs the poor girl, and hopes her own voice isn’t shaking. Ryoo is looking at her worriedly. Pooja can’t offer her sister anything until she knows what is going on.

“We have received a call from Chancellor Mon Mothma of the Rebel Alliance.” Nali tells her. She still seems to be very … well, what is it? Happy? Confused? Excited? Probably a mixture of all those emotions, Pooja decides. At least the handmaiden uses full sentences now.

“What did Mothma want?” It’s dangerous calling Mothma Chancellor. It’s the title the Rebel Alliance chose for her, and Pooja considers Mothma to be a very good politician and leader, but if the Empire finds out they call her that, they will (correctly) deduce that Naboo at very least sympathizes with the Alliance.

“She said that the Emperor is dead! And Vader! There was a battle, somewhere near Endor, and Chancellor Mothma swears she has confirmation that both Vader and the Emperor are dead!” Nali is almost shouting the last words. Pooja is glad she is already sitting. The Emperor _and_ Vader dead? Pooja knows Mothma, she knows the woman wouldn’t lie about something like this. But still. Can it be?

“Queen Apailana wants you here quickly. She needs to decide what to do now.” Nali is still talking. The handmaiden is still breathless. She is only 15, Pooja reminds herself, hardly more than a girl.

“Do we have independent confirmation on all this?” She asks, because while she wants to believe, wants to think that the worst is over, she is politician and a Nabooian first, and she has to protect her people and her queen.

“Not yet.” Nali answers. Pooja takes a deep breath. “I will be there in three hours.” She promises and ends the call.

Pooja closes her eyes. She needs to get going if she wants to be at the palace in three hours, but for the moment she just can’t move. What if it’s true? What if the Emperor is dead, and Vader too? If the Rebels won a victory as huge as the news imply, Naboo will declare for the Alliance, and openly so. It is something Pooja has wished for ever since the senate was disbanded, but still… that it might actually happen now… it feels surreal.

Pooja opens her eyes and finds Ryoo staring at her. Her sister wants answers. Technically all the information Pooja just received is highly classified, but Pooja has never lied to her sister. She has even told her about all her secret spy missions for the queen, so the words slip from her tongue easily. “Mothma claims that Vader and the Emperor are dead.”

Ryoo stares. For a few moments, the two sisters just look at one another, both working on understanding all the implications of those few words. A dark satisfaction fills Ryoo’s eyes. Pooja knows what her sister thinks before she says it.

“Aunt Padme is avenged, then.” Pooja sighes. She looks around herself. Aunt Padme had loved the lake as much as Ryoo and Pooja do. She had come here with them, when Ryoo and Pooja were still little girls and aunt Padme was still alive.  

Pooja remembers her aunt, remembers her kind words and happy laughs and passionate speaches. She remembers talk about peace and how much aunt Padme had believed in democracy. She remembers the sad smiles, too, and the way her aunt had died. 

She wonders whether aunt Padme would have wanted to be violently avenged. 

Then she remembers that aunt Padme’s opinion doesn’t really matter anymore, because aunt Padme didn’t want to get murdered, either, and that didn’t stop the Emperor from having her killed, did it? Ryoo and Pooja have always suspected Vader as their aunts murderer. To say she is not glad to hear of his death would be a lie

“Yes.” She says, and looks her sister in the eyes. She feels tears running down her cheeks, sudden and unexpected, but she refuses to wipe them away.

They have not won yet. But aunt Padme is avenged, the Empire has been dealt a critical defeat, and everything else will work out, too, somehow


	6. Practical

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryoo hears about a young rebel named Luke Skywalker and remembers her aunt

Ryoo Naberrie is a practical woman. She has always been. She’s not as idealistic as her sister or her aunt. She likes building things, has spent hours as a child at her grandfather’s side before starting to design her own buildings. Today she is one of the most famed architects Naboo has to offer. She lives here and now, does not often concern herself with the past.

That does not mean she has forgotten. Ryoo was nine when Aunt Padme died, when the Empire rose and her family very nearly shattered. She remembers her aunt vividly, her kindness, her passion for justice, how she used to sneak Ryoo and her sister candy when her mother wasn’t looking. She also remembers that Aunt Padme was pregnant when she died, and that it was never talked about in the family. To this day, she has not been able to get a straight answer out of either her parents or her grandparents to this topic. Pooja thinks that they don’t talk about it because they don’t know either. Ryoo is not so sure. Even she, who had been nine, had been able to work out that the father of Aunt Padme’s child was Anakin Skywalker. She knows, of course, that Anakin Skywalker was a Jedi. She also knows that Jedi had rules, were forbidden attachments and such (even though she never really understood why)(Not that she really tries. Jedi and their mystical powers are to far out there for her, she can’t grasp them. She is a practical woman. She doesn’t like things that she can’t touch.). 

So when a young man (boy, really) named Luke Skywalker, a rebel hero, starts showing up on the news channels as one of the Empire’s Most Wanted, Ryoo notices. She makes a point to listen to the News for the first time in years, and what she hears makes her stop in her tracks. Luke Skywalker, 20 years old, born on Empire day, from Tatooine, rebel pilot. There is a lot of charges on him, most of which boil down to: Has shot down some huge Imperial battle station, the Imps are really pissed because of it. Ryoo remembers what Pooja had told her, after Alderaans destruction, of the death star, and connects the dots. The holo they have of the boy is blurry and of rather poor quality. It shows a young man with blond hair and blue eyes, who smiles awkwardly and seems way to young for all of this. He looks exactly like Anakin Skywalker looked like, that first time he had come to Naboo with Aunt Padme.

That evening, Ryoo goes home to visit her parents. They are reading when she arrives, the whole house in a comfortable, familiar silence. A holo of Aunt Padme sits on the couch table. Ryoo knows the holo. It has stood there since she can remember. It shows Aunt Padme on the day of her coronation, beautiful, colorful, dignified. Ryoo has always thought that Aunt Padme looked terribly young in it, but her parents had never seen it her way. It was a Nabooian tradition to have young queens, after all. And aren’t you proud of her? Ryoo remembers forced smiles, hushed conversations, she remembers how everybody loves talking about Aunt Padme’s time as queen and senator, but how nobody will talk about her private life, of her death, of the fact that she was pregnant. She remembers the tears, hidden from the public but not from her.

Seeing her parents sitting there in serenity, in a hard fought for peace with the past, she can’t bring herself to tell them of her suspicions. Maybe Luke Skywalker is Aunt Padme’s son. Maybe he isn’t. It won’t help her parents either way, she thinks. So she just sits down with them to read, enjoying the peace that washes over her.

She does, however, call Pooja the next morning. And she keeps her eyes open. It can’t hurt to be informed, after all.


	7. Tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An uncomfortable meeting between Bail and Sola

* * *

“Do you want tea?” Sola asks. She is wearing a dark blue dress, and she smiles in a way that seems both polite and sad.

Bail takes a deep breath. This is awkward, the whole situation is awkward and stupid and cruel and maybe he shouldn’t have come, should have left Naboo directly after signing that trade contract, but it would have been not only impolite but also suspicious to not visit the Naberries. They are Padme’s family, after all, and everyone knows that Bail and Padme were close.

“Yes, that would be nice.” He says and hopes none of his thoughts show. It’s kind of ridiculous. Bail is a senator, he deals with both the Emperor and Vader on a regular basis, both of whom are at least technically able to look into his mind. Yet he isn’t half as nervous with them as he is with Sola and her parents, even though it’s the same secret he’s keeping from both parties, and the ramifications of the Naberries finding out next to those of the Empire finding out… no, he’s not even going to think about it.

Sola offers him a mug of tea. It smells good, exactly like the tea Padme used to love. Bail makes himself smile at Sola. “It tastes wonderful.” He tells her. He doesn’t know what else to talk about. He has never been close to Padme’s sister. The only topic of conversation he can think of is Padme, but he can’t. He can’t talk to Padme’s sister about Padme without telling Sola about Padme’s death, about everything that happened, about Padme’s _children._

So he smiles and says nothing, and the whole situation turns awkward again. A couple minutes pass. They both drink of their tea.

Sola carefully doesn’t look at him when she asks: “Are you going to visit her?” No need to ask who she is talking about. Bail takes a deep breath. Again. This is kind of ridiculous. Padme would laugh about it all, but Padme is dead, and that is kind of the reason he’s in this situation at all, isn’t it?

“Yes. I want to bring her flowers. Do you know… do you know where I could buy some?” Talking about Padme’s grave is marginally better than talking about her as a person, he thinks.

“Two streets down there is nice little shop.” Sola says. “It has been there since I can remember. Padme used to love it.” She looks tired, and sad. Bail is again reminded that this visit is a bad idea, that he should have gone home instead of sitting here trying to make conversation.

“I’ll go there, then.” Silence, again. Bail tries to think of things to say, safe topics for small talk, and he can see Sola doing the same. More time passes.

“It’s good she doesn’t have to see it.” Sola whispers. Bail almost doesn’t hear it. “The Empire.” Sola clarifies. “Padme… she would have hated it. Democracy was her life. To see it all cast down, destroyed and turned to ashes… it would have destroyed her.”

Bail doesn’t know what to say. He remembers Padme’s last moments, remembers them much to well, sees them in his nightmares regularly. He remembers Padme’s desperation about the loss of her husband, how she had almost refused to believe that Anakin had turned. He remembers her joy at seeing her twins. He remembers the realization that she wasn’t going to make it, and how she had looked when she had realized it, too. He remembers how she asked him to look after her child. He remembers that in the end, it wasn’t the Empire that destroyed Padme, but Padme’s own husband.

But Sola doesn’t know this. Sola believes that Padme died of a heart attack, that Padme’s child died, that Padme did not have a life outside of politics. Sola had loved Padme and still does, that is obvious, but she hadn’t really known her. Well, Sola had of course known Padme the child, probably even Padme the Queen, but Padme the senator? The Padme who had been such a dear friend to Bail had been very different to the Padme Sola had known.

And Bail thinks of Leia, running around the palace at home, five and beautiful and clever and spirited and cheerful and looking just like Padme. He wants to tell Sola all about Leia in this moment, about Padme’s wonderful little daughter, even about Luke, Padme’s little son Bail had only seen once. But he can’t. It’s too dangerous for one. If the Empire ever realizes that Padme’s child ( _children)_ lived, they are going to question the Naberries first. But it’s also his guilt that keeps him from saying anything (he should have done something, helped Padme somehow, not just stood there knowing her secrets), his fear (they would want Leia. Leia who is Padme’s daughter, but who is also _his_ daughter, his wonderful little girl) and shame (they are Leia’s blood family, who would love and cherish her. He doesn’t have the right to keep Leia from them, even though it’s the only way to keep her safe). Logically, he knows he’s doing the right thing. It still feels horrible, but Bail has become good at ignoring such feelings.

So Bail just takes a sip of his tea and tells Sola he agrees. It’s easier this way, for him and for them.


	8. Two senators walk into a bar...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pooja and Leia meet for an Information drop off

The cantina is dark and quite scary, very different from anything Pooja is used to from home. Of course Naboo has criminality, but a bar like this… no, she really can’t imagine such a place to be on her peaceful, beautiful home planet.

Pooja is wearing dark cloths that hide her face and her figure, as well as a blaster that is openly on her hip and one that is hidden in her boot. There is a part of her that feels giddy with excitement. This is just like the games she used to play with Ryoo, when they fantasized about traveling the galaxy like the Jedi did, getting into all sorts of adventures and answering to nobody but themselves.

But Pooja is not a girl anymore. She is an adult woman, a representative of her planet and her queen. She is not here to get into adventures but to meet with the rebel alliance, and honestly, while she carries blasters, she is not that good of a shot. She has never been in an active combat situation. And all these criminals in here scare her more than a bit, if she is honest with herself.

Still, she stays. Her queen has asked her to do this, to give the plans that fell into their hands by accident to the Alliance, and to not get caught. Naboo is sympathizes with the Alliance, has done so since the start. Padme Amidala, a most beloved former queen and Pooja’s aunt, had opposed the Empire before it was even founded, and had died suspiciously. Nobody on Naboo had believed it when they were told that their 27-year-old senator had died of a heart attack, least of all Pooja and her sister Ryoo. (Their parents seem to. It’s something neither Pooja nor her sister have ever understood. How can they actually believe such an obviously wrong story?). But openly opposing the Empire is dangerous, way to dangerous, as Alderaan has proven, and so Pooja, herself a former senator, sits in a shady cantina on a small and rather meaningless middle rim planet waiting to meet with her contact.

Suddenly, a woman sits down next to her. The woman is hooded, her face in the shadows. She wears a blaster on each hip and moves way more comfortably then Pooja could ever be in such an environment. Next to the newcomer are two men, one who is hooded like the woman and stays close by, while the other shows his face freely. He has brown hair and sharp brown eyes, with which he scans the room.

“You know, the last time we met, there was way better food.” The woman says. Pooja relaxes immediately. It’s her contact.

“Well, I don’t know. I never liked Coruscanti restaurants.” Pooja tells her friend and gets a chuckle in return. The last time they met was when they had discussed the new anti-slavery law Leia had wanted to propose, when they were both still senators. Two years ago, and yet it feels as if that was a different life.

“I’m sorry for this, as well as the attire, but this is one of the few ways we can be reasonably sure we won’t be seen.” Leia apologizes, but Pooja shakes her head.

“It’s okay. I can’t be seen, either, and anyway, a bit adventure can’t hurt, can it?” She says, trying to bring a bit levity into the situation. The man next to Leia chuckles dryly.

“Well, yes.” Leia says, and bats a hand at the man which he gracefully evades. The one without a hood smirks. “What do you have for me?” 

That’s Leia. Straight to the point. Pooja grins. “These. We’re not quite sure what they are supposed to mean, but they seem important, so we thought you’d probably find some use in them.” She offers her friend the datapad. Leia takes it and scans it shortly.

“Thank you.” Leia says sincerely. She gives the pad to the hooded man, who hides it somewhere in his cloak.

“It’s nothing.” Pooja says truthfully. Giving it to Alliance does not hurt Naboo. She takes a deep breath. She wants to say her friends name out loud, but she knows better than that. “I’m sorry.” She says, and tries to convey everything in those two words: Sorrow, friendship, grief. She wants to take Leia into her arms, to comfort her old friends, wants to spend the next few hours talking about all that happened, about the bad and the good. She wants to let Leia cry on her shoulder for all that she has lost, and cry with her for the last threads of democracy they tried so hard to defend. Pooja wants to tell Leia about her new boyfriend and ask who the two men are. She wants… she wants to turn back time so that for a moment, so they can just be friends again. They had been very close, once, often compared to Bail Organa and Padme Amidala, who had been just as close, and almost legendary in certain circles. It had always made both of them ridiculously proud.

But that is impossible right now. “Thank you.” Leia says, and she sounds tired, worn. “Good luck.” Pooja nods, and watches them leave. The men stick close to Leia, protecting her, even though Pooja is not sure if Leia needs that protection. Her friend moves with determination, a hand on her blaster. Leia has always been a way better shot than Pooja herself, she remembers.

She waits a few minutes, finishes her drink, and leaves. In a few hours she will be home, on her beautiful, peaceful Naboo, where she can pretend that everything is alright. She finds she doesn’t really want to.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr as lukeleiahan


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